The focus of this film is not on the environmental damage caused by the titular oil explosion, but on the crew members who fought and died during the disaster. Mark Wahlberg plays one especially heroic worker, but the true star is director Peter Berg (look for him in a cameo when the helicopter lands). He sets up the culture with quick-cut macho exchanges, but his magnificent recreation of the chaos and calamity makes the experience exceptionally gripping. It’s a dizzying outburst of devastation. While the film clearly indicts BP as the greedy villain, the epic endeavor to avert, then survive the disaster, is riveting.
(4.5 / 5)